NATION

by Terry Pratchett

978-0-06-1-67399-3

332pp/$16.99/September 2008

It has been 12 years since Terry Pratchett
published a non-Discworld novel, Johnny
and the Bomb.Pratchett
has once again left his flattened creation to create a new world in Nation,
the story of Mau, a young islander who must deal with the aftermath of a
massive tidal wave.

Mau becomes the last survivor of Nation, when he is
on another island undergoing a rite of passage.When his island is swamped by a tidal wave, he returns home to
discover the destruction of all he knew.He attempts to live the life he has always known, despite its
impossibility, although as the days go by, refugees from other nearby
islands begin to arrive, first and foremost a young British girl who has
survived a shipwreck.

The shipwreck survivor, Daphne aka Ermintrude,
finds herself in a new, and undesired position, as she is in a time and
place that none of her training for the English peerage prepared her
for.All of the advice that
her grandmother has given her is suddenly for naught, although she is
fortunate in having a father who indulged her definitely unfeminine (for
the time) interests.

Many of the themes of personal responsibility,
rather than allegiance to a deity or a belief system, that have
permeated so much of Pratchett’s recent writing appears in the
character of Mau.The loss
of Nation causes him to have a crisis of faith, made worse by the lack
of any sort of guide except for the elderly Ataba, one of the first
survivors to appear on Nation. The two characters quickly fall into a
complex relationship which is both supportive and in conflict. There is
a certain, although by no means complete, amount of respect between the
two.

Nation
includes half a framing technique.Near the end of the story, Pratchett suddenly introduces a
narrator, who has been telling the story, apparently, to two young
children.Prior to their
introduction in the final chapter, there is no indication that the novel
was anything other than an account of what was happening, when it was
happening, and this final chapter, or epilogue even, isn’t really
necessary, although it doesn’t detract from the novel, either.

The humor in Nation
exists, but is not as successful as in most of Pratchett’s novels.This may be caused by the dire situation in which Mau and Daphne
find themselves, or it may simply be that the characters and setting
don’t lend themselves as well to the type of humor Pratchett normally
writes.There are
moments of humor, but they are more rare than the reader will likely
expect, and that is one of the problems.

Readers who approach the novel expecting a typical
Pratchett outing may find themselves disappointed. However, Pratchett
covers many of his traditional themes in this setting and Nation has strong characterizations. In many ways, Nation
demonstrates Pratchett’s strength as a writer for the very reason that
he doesn’t have his traditional setting, or his humor, to fall back
on. Instead, Nation is a
completely original work.